Writing a Romantic ComedyLikable Romantic Leads

By Script Quack

If you polled the screenwriting community asking, “What movie genre is hardest to write?” chances are, the answer would be romantic comedies. There are tons of reasons people think that rom coms are impossible to do well, and most rom coms released in theaters seem to suggest that the genre is almost impossible to master.

But really, if your romantic comedy accomplishes four simple tasks, it will fundamentally work. Here are those four tasks:

1) Likable male lead.

2) Likable female lead.

3) The audience wants to see them together.

4) There is a plausible reason they can’t be together.

These items may seem obvious, but take a look at the last few releases in this genre, and they’ll be missing at least one of these critical elements. In this article, we’ll discuss the first three items on this list, creating likable romantic leads that the audience wants to see together.

What exactly makes a likable character, anyways? And what does it mean to be likable? Ultimately, your biggest task here comes before you begin to write. Looking for a natural, believable flaw for your hero? Look to yourself. This is where the old adage ‘write what you know’ really comes into play. Why do you think the way you do? What holds you back from success in love and in life? What would you say your biggest flaw is?

Think just as deeply about other people you know in your life. What’s holding them back from happiness? Here, you’re getting a hold on your main characters inner flaws. The more intimately you know these flaws, the more complex you’ll find your characters are on the page.

In this process, it’s often best to build outwards, beginning with your hero and their flaw. Every other character in your comedy should challenge or reflect this flaw in some way. Most importantly, the object of their desires should directly challenge their flaw, thus forcing them to grow in order to achieve the ultimate goal of winning love.

Chasing Amy provides a perfect example of this. Ben Afleck’s Holden is insecure about his life experience and his artistic merit. Alyssa (the object of his desire) is a wildly promiscuous, artsy lesbian. If he is going to be with her, he is going to have to conquer his own issues first.

Finally, make sure you externalize your hero’s flaw in clear, visual ways. The lives we live are always impacted by our personalities, in positive as well as negative ways. The same should be true for the characters we write. Judd Apatow does this incredibly well in his comedies. Seth Rogen’s character in Knocked Up, for instance, literally lives his character flaw. Inside, he’s a man boy that’s afraid of responsibility. Outside, he has no money, a bogus job, and smokes way too much weed. His life needs to be fixed, and only forced responsibility can initiate that journey. Enter the career minded and pregnant Kathryn Heigel, and you’ve got the beginnings of a fruitful romantic comedy.

If you set up your romantic leads well, the audience will like them. Do the work before you begin writing, and you’ll save yourself time rewriting later. And above all, don’t be afraid to give your characters flaws like your own flaws. If your characters mirror and reflect each other, and force each other to grow, we’ll want to see them together.

Next week, we’ll continue our series on writing the romantic comedy by exploring the fourth item on the list… “There is a plausible reason they can’t be together.” This is the big one. Without this, you’ve got no conflict, no tension and no stakes. So check back next week for our thoughts on how to navigate this all-important tenet of rom com writing.

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